Dressed to Steal

by Tatsurou

Time Out: Guns Blazing

The first task as far as taking Toothpick down was getting Tennessee his gun back. While Uncle T-Bone had wanted to just go in with his guns, Razor reminded him that the goal was repairing history, which meant Tennessee needed to be responsible for taking Toothpick down and revealing his treachery, to get him in good graces with Sheriff Valina for when he 'retired'...once he got the gold from the big heist.

Thankfully, this did include a job for Uncle Razor and Uncle T-Bone. The two of them were going to use their formidable skills to trail Toothpick to the abandoned mine the future felon had converted into his personal warehouse, blow the door, and retrieve the gun...with Tennessee joining them to actually identify it. With their strength, agility, and stealth skills, they were ideal for the job.

Besides, it kept Uncle T-Bone from getting restless.

---

T-Bone and Razor leapt easily from rooftop to rooftop, clifftop to clifftop, and back and forth between the two as they tailed Toothpick from a distance. Their visors - built for flying in the Turbokat - were designed with a built in zoom viewer, so they didn't need to pull out an extra device to track Toothpick from a distance. Razor kept his eyes on the target, while T-Bone used his greater physical strength to silence any thugs they came across before they could alert Toothpick.

It took barely any time at all to trail Toothpick to the huge metal door sealing the mine, as well as see him input some sort of combination to the control panel nearby to cause the much smaller door in one corner to swing open. Afterwards, he ducked into the mine, declaring he was going to take a look at his gold. Razor and T-Bone leapt down to the control panel.

"Watch my back," Razor instructed as he immediately began to hack the panel.

"Don't I always?" T-Bone teased as he flexed eagerly, punching out the first giant scorpion that approached from behind before it could ready its stinger.

While T-Bone dealt with the scorpions, Razor addressed the console. Rather than going at it by attacking the code, he focused on forensically analyzing the panel and what they knew of Toothpick in order to figure out what the password could be to open the gate, while checking the code to see if there were any security systems that would activate if anyone used the code while Toothpick was in the mine. Discovering there was no such security, he readily punched in the deduced code, G-O-L-D-B-O-O-T-Y.

"Ah got it from here, fellas!" Tennessee called out as he ducked in through the door just before it swung shut.

"So much for us going in together," T-Bone growled angrily.

Razor shrugged. "Let him get his gun alone," he offered easily. "He'll be fine."

---

And he was fine. The gun he was so worried about turned out to be his model of the Cooper Cane, with the gun part in the shaft and the trigger in the hook. When he got back, he was singing the praises of 'Ol' Blue' to anyone who would listen. Surprisingly, this led to an unexpected question.

---

"So how come ya ain't got a gun in yer cane?" Tennessee asked Sly curiously. "Ah mean, ranged combat's gotta be safer than up close, and certainly neater."

"As time went on, the two major precepts of Cooper Thieves when dealing with targets became Non-Lethal and Without a Trace," Sly explained easily. "Unfortunately, as technology advanced, that became harder and harder to do effectively at range." He gestured to Coco. "My daughter's preference for thrown needles dipped in various substances that disperse in the blood stream is the first successful application of ranged combat in the Cooper Legacy since...you."

"Much obliged ya brought it back, lil' lady," Tennessee offered happily, tilted his hat at a rakish angle. Coco blushed in pleasure.

---

The next part of the job involved Dad and Uncle Bentley arranging to listen in on Toothpick's plans in his office...where we learned both his plan and the fact he can apparently expand to immense size. That would make combat...interesting.

Bentley left the RC car in place to keep listening while he continued our work. With what we learned, we were able to make a plan to get Tennessee on the train so he could get the gold back and deal with Toothpick once and for all. The only problem was the train was too fast to catch easily, so we'd need to divert it so it would be more predictable.

Somehow, this meant entering various contests in disguise so we could swipe the keys. Is it just me, or do these jobs get really ridiculous sometimes?

Uncle Murray was in the bare-knuckle boxing tournament. Dad was in the foot race. Mom entered the shooting challenge, since it required using a gun. Stupid hooves...

Of course they all won, and we got the keys we needed. With the train rerouted, we moved in to start taking it down. Murray drove the van behind the train, easily keeping up to pick each of us up where we needed. T-Bone and Razor dropped each of us off at the right points from the Turbokat, making a straight-forward job of taking control of the train from him.

My job was a bit more complicated...mostly because it wasn't officially part of the job. See, the way Tennessee kept talking about that Valina got me thinking. We needed to deal with Toothpick, true enough...but we were also repairing history. That meant Valina needed to stay sheriff of the area so she would partner up with Tennessee once he 'went straight'. And with how easily Toothpick stepped in, it seemed her position wasn't as secure as it should be. If Tennessee were credited with taking Toothpick down in this time, she just might lose the reputation that let her keep the job.

But that was going to be difficult. First I would need to find her, and hope she was close enough to intervene at the right time...

Comments

[prism heart]

looking forward to seeing Vallina interact with Tennessee

[Kenshinryuu]

I can't wait to see how Coco gets along with Valina, but I can see Valina and Carmelita both sitting on either side of her and rubbing her if she needs comfort.

8383142 Oh yes indeed.

[Crescent Glaive]

Clever Coco is clever

[LuckyShadowWolf]

Well it looks like T-Bone is on the Razor's edge waiting for some action!

[Frogace55]

With what we learned, we were able to make a plan to get Tennessee on the train so he could get the cold back and deal with Toothpick once and for all.

cold back

I don't think you want a Virus back

[GrimmWolfDragon]

Looking forward to the next chapter.

[alfonso_rd_33]

Of course Valina has been trailing Tennessee since the moment he escaped from prison....

[the other sans]

8383268 Golden rule right there.

8383236 I'd think Razor was looking at booty which is tentatively more interesting.

Do you think it's silly that contests are they key to victory? Koko thinks so and she's an imaginary friend!

Guess we finally get to soon see Tennessee's range of techniques.

[Dustchu]

And with how easily Toothpick stepped in, it seemed her position wasn't as secure as it should be. If Tennessee were credited with taking Toothpick down in this time,
she just might lose the reputation that let her keep the job.

Another one of those enter doodads.

And awesome chapter well done! Heheh, Coco's a clever lass, she is

[Marauder15]

8383268
Amen to that

[cyberlord4444]

8383142
I'm more looking forward to her interacting with Coco

[Just Defender]

Just a heads up, Tat; Kids' gun is called "Ol' Blue", not "Old Bessie"

[Tatsurou]

8384410
Fixed.

[Jake Witt]

8383268
If anything, they are after loot! I'm pretty sure they want every nickel back!

[Jake Witt]

8395963
You're right. It's as if I was expecting BBC Sherlock... but this is another ride entirely.

[the one guy on the left]

8383236
*Facepalm of thunder*

[LightningChaser1]

8385735
Nickelback. That's the name of a band.

[HeartfireFirebrand]

"So how come ya ain't got a gun in yer cane?" Tennessee asked Sly curiously. "Ah mean, ranged combat's gotta be safer than up close, and certainly neater."

"As time went on, the two major precepts of Cooper Thieves when dealing with targets became Non-Lethal and Without a Trace," Sly explained easily. "Unfortunately, as technology advanced, that became harder and harder to do effectively at range." He gestured to Coco. "My daughter's preference for thrown needles dipped in various substances that disperse in the blood stream is the first successful application of ranged combat in the Cooper Legacy since...you."

"Much obliged ya brought it back, lil' lady," Tennessee offered happily, tilted his hat at a rakish angle. Coco blushed in pleasure.

That makes sense